Lexico-grammatical aspects of translation:

LECTURE 5

LEXICO-GRAMMATICAL ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION:

Rendering of the contextual meanings of the definite and indefinite

articles

Plan of the lecture

1. Rendering of the contextual meanings of the definite and indefinite articles

2. Realization of contextual meanings of the DA

3. Realization of contextual meanings of the IA

Objectives:

- to characterize the most general contextual realizations of meanings of the nominalizing and emphatic articles, and the means of expressing their meanings in Ukrainian;

- to acquaint students with the most common contextual meanings of the indefinite article and means of expressing them in Ukrainian;

- to acquaint students with the most common contextual meanings of the indefinite article and means of expressing them in Ukrainian;

- to acquaint students with the ways of conveying the rhematic and thematic contextual meanings of the definite and the indefinite articles in Ukrainian.

Literature

1. Алексеева И. C. Введение в переводоведение: Учеб. пособие для студ. филол. и лингв, фак. вьісш. учеб. заведений / Алексеева И. С. — СПб.: Филологический факультет СПбГУ; М.: Издательский центр — Академия, 2004. — С. 204—208.

2. Корунець І. В. Теорія і практика перекладу (аспектний переклад): підруч. /1. В. Корунець; ред. О. І. Терех. — Вінниця: Нова Книга, 2003. — С. 208—221.

1. Rendering of the contextual meanings of the definite and indefinite articles

The article (the definite DA, the indefinite IA) is a functional word serving to identify or determine the noun (to play, the play), the superlative degree of its quality (the highest level) or the order of nouns in a word-group (the first step) or in a row of similar nouns. In some prepositional phrases and word- combinations the DA and IAs, however, may change their lexico-grammatical nature (become a particle), as in the expression the more one studies, the more one knows; the more, the better (чим більше, тим краще), or acquire some peculiar grammatical, functional and lexical meaning (the Dickenses / Ivanenkos подружжя Діккенсів / Іваненків); the A may be lexicalized as in the Alps / the Carpathians Альпи / Карпати, at the baker's / butcher's у пекаря/м'ясника (в хлібному/м'ясному магазині). Such and the like lexicalized As, naturally, in no way weaken or lose their determining, i.e., grammatical function. As a result, their lexical meaning is inseparable in these cases from their functional meaning. The determining and lexicalizing nature of the D and I As also manifests itself in several set expressions (to be on the safe side, to have a look, in a word, it's a pity, all of a sudden, etc.)

1) There are the occasions when the D/I As may acquire some lexical meaning in contextual environment (only for a time) and thus serve as a peculiar means of "expressive connotation". This kind of As is each time endowed in different contextual environments with some quite different meaning, which may be, nevertheless, of implicitly different semantic and lexico-grammatical type, as for instance, that of a demonstrative, possessive, identifying, indefinite or some other pronoun:

He lived more poorly than an artisan. (S. Maugham) - Жив він бідніше за будь-якого ремісника.

Carot never sold a picture. (Ibid) ~ Каро не продав жодної картини /ні однієї картини.

2) That of an adjunctive/identifying adjective and a specifying or modal particle:

... and she had acquired a reputation for neatness and accuracy (Maugham)... - і вона здобула за ретельно виконану роботу солідну репутацію. She would have called him a fish. (Carrol) - Вона назвала б його просто карасем.

3) A distinctly nominal or rather nominalizing meaning: He (Mr. Gills) took it (the bottle) up and having surveyed and smelt it said with extraordinary expression: "The?" "The", returned the instrument maker. (C. Dickens)

The real meaning of thus emphasized article can be disclosed only in the sentence that follows, where Mr. Gills fills the glass with liquour and drinks it. Without the broader context it would certainly be impossible to guess what this definite nominalizing article stands for in the extract. Nor is it always easy for our students to identify in some sentences the rhematic and the thematic function of articles and to express their meaning. Therefore, the occurrence of lexically meaningful articles is not occasional or accidental, for it is predetermined by context. Due to this, the number of lexically meaningful articles in different speech substyles often varies. Their occurrence can also depend on the personal taste of the author who may be more or less inclined to use them in his narrative. But whatever their quantity, none of the lexically meaningful articles should be ignored or overlooked in the passage under translation and its meaning must be correctly rendered in the target language (TL).

In order to faithfully convey each kind of the meaningful articles, one will be advised first of all to subject the whole passage, which is to be translated, to a thorough content analysis in order to select possible lexical substitutes for the articles in the TL. The substitutes in languages like Ukrainian, which have no functionals of the kind, can differ by their logico-grammatical nature, as well as be contextually synonymous. Because of this the choice of the contextually equivalent substitutes depends much on the translator who, when selecting a fitting lexical equivalent for the article, has to take some factors into con­sideration:

- the semantic factor playing a predominant role:

- the stylistic factor eliminating an unnecessary repetition of the same

equivalent substitute in sentences close by.

In other words, the co-existence of the same synonymous substitutes must be strictly regulated. Besides, the translator has to keep it in mind, that some contextual meanings of the definite article may seem similar to those of the indefinite article and vice versa. Hence, the translator should be no less attentive to the style of his target language passage which in its turn will help him achieve a faithful translation of sentences or the passage as a whole, where both the defining and the nominalizing lexically charged articles are used.

When conveying the lexical meanings of the D/I As into Ukrainian, attention should be paid to their functional meanings in the sentence/word- combinations. Thus, the meanings of the DA are usually expressed through different Ukrainian attributive pronouns, adjectives, participles, adverbs or cardinal/ordinal numerals. The meaning of the numeral one, on the other hand, is always expressed only through the IA, which is historically derived from this part of speech:

Most of fellows in the Quarters share a studio. (Maugham) — Багато хлопців з латинського кварталу орендують удвох одну студію.

The nominalizing articles are mostly rendered through the parts of speech having the functions of attributes to the noun:

...I believe that a young person in a city tea-shop has left her situation. (Maugham) -...Гадаю, в одній із кав'ярень якась офіціантка зникла.

The emphatically used articles, on the other hand, have usually particles for their contextual equivalents in Ukrainian:

But I must content myself with a few paragraphs. (Maugham) - Жаль, що можу обмежитьсь лише кількома епізодами.

The rhematic use of the articles introducing the new information, a new core of an utterance, and its thematic use repeating the already known information about an object or event is often disclosed in Ukrainian sentences by other than lexical means. Still, the bulk of meanings which the lexically charged articles can acquire due to their syntagmatic environment in speech are those of pronouns.

2. Realization of contextual meanings of the DA

The DA when endowed with the lexical meaning in a sentence or passage can have various realizations in Ukrainian, which may be the following:

1) as the demonstrative pronoun цей (ця, це, ці): What his sister has seen in the man was beyond him. (J.London) — Що його сестра знайшла у цьому чоловікові, він не міг збагнути.

2) as the demonstrative pronouns такий (той, та, те, ті), той самий, (саме той, та сама), такий самий:

The fellow behind us in the crowd was talking again. (E. Caldwell) — Той самий хлопець із натовпу позад нас тепер озвався знову. Не was amazed at the man's sympathy with the life and his incisive psychology. (E.Caldwell) - Його вразила така любов цієї людини до життя і її психологічне проникнення.

3) as the possessive pronoun її, їхні, свій (своя, своє, свої):

The room was situated over the laundry. - Його кімната була/знаходилась над пральнею.

4) as the identifying pronoun весь, вся, все/цілий: Не looked up, and it seemed that the room was lifting. —

Він підвів голову і йому здалося, що вся кімната ходить ходором.

5) as the relative pronoun який (яка, яке, які):

She didn't know the actual fire of love. - Вона не знала, яке то справжнє полум'я кохання.

6) as the indefinite pronoun якийсь (якась, якесь), певний:

For the moment the great gulf that separated them then was bridged. He was played dy the low comedian, who had introduced gags of his own... (О. Wilde) ~ На якусь мить через велику безодню, що розділяла їх, був наведений міст. Його роль виконував такий собі комік з фарсовими вибриками власного штибу.

7) as the identifying attributive pronoun сам, сам собою, інший/інша: The toil meant nothing to him. - Сама собою праця нічого не важила для

нього.

8) as an adjective or adjectivized participle:

Martin Eden did not go out to hunt for a job in the morning. - Мартін Ідей не пішов наступного ранку шукати роботу.

9) as a particle emphasizing the attributive pronoun, numeral or some other parts of speech:

The next afternoon, accompanied by Arthur, she arrived in the Morses carriage.

На другий же день в супроводі Артура вона приїхала до нього в кареті Морзі в.

10) when the noun in the sentence has another attribute the clearly explicit

lexical meaning of the definite article remains superfluous:

He lay where he had fallen, and from there he watched the man in the red sweater (J.London) - Він лежав, де впав, і звідти спостерігав за чоловіком у червоному светрі.

11) when the DA points to thematic functioning of the noun signalized by its

initial position in the sentence and pointing to the core of the utterance presenting the basic, known already elements in the sentence: The old man stared at the open door. (Ibid.) - Старий з острахом дивився на прочинені двері.

The dog had gone back to his slow, spiritless barking. (J.Steinbeck) - Тут собака заходився знову спроквола і неохоче погавкувати. The street lights were fewer now. (J. Steinbeck) - Лампіонів на вулиці тепер горіло менше.

The rheme, the new notional element in the utterance, is more frequently indicated in English by the IA determining the noun in the initial position. When translated into Ukrainian, however, the rhematic noun, as has long been noticed, occupies a terminating position in the sentence/clause (when the utterance is a composite sentence):

There was an old twostorey yellow house on Fielding Avenue that year. (W.

Saroyan) - Того року на Філдінг Авеню стояв старий двоповерховий жовтий будинок.

A dog growled in one of the yards as the men went by. (J.Steinbeck) - Коли чоловіки проходили повз один з будинків, у його дворі загарчав собака. A light fog began to drift through the air, and the stars were swallowed in it. (Ibid.) - У повітрі потяглися легенькі пасма туману, і вони заволокли й поглинули зірки.

A correct selection of thematic and rhematic nouns, identified by the definite and indefinite articles and by their respective placement in the sentence, facilitates the faithful conveying of the logical sentence perspective in the target language.

3. Realization of contextual meanings of the IA

The indefinite article is very often endowed in speech/text with lexical meanings, which may coincide with those of different pronouns. The only exception is the cardinal numeral "one" from which the IA historically originates. No wonder that the contextual meanings of the lexically charged IA can sometimes be quite unexpected. The most frequent and common of these meanings can be expressed in one of the following ways:

I) by the cardinal numeral один (одна, одне): He said something about a schooner that's getting ready to go off. (O. Wilde) - Він тут розповідав щось про одну шхуну, яка готується відпливати.

2) by the Ukrainian cardinal numeral один, ordinal numeral перший or the indefinite pronoun якийсь, якась, якесь (in some contexts).

The IA may also mark the rheme of the utterance: Only for an instant he hesitated, then his head went up and his hand came off. (J. London) In this sentence any of the above-given substitutes may be quite faithful, since all of them are equally fitting in the utterance, which in Ukrainian will have another position: Він був у нерішучості (вагався) тільки якусь мить...

Він був у нерішучості (вагався) тільки першу мить...

Він був у нерішучості (вагався) тільки одну мить...

3) by the indefinite pronoun якийсь only, without the attendant meanings of the cardinal or ordinal numerals:

He saw her come down the aisle, with Arthur and a strange young man. (J.London) - Він бачив, як вона пройшла партером у супроводі Артура іще якогось незнайомого молодика.

4) by the demonstrative pronoun translated into Ukrainian as цей, ця, це, when the IA (lexically meaningful) precedes the logically stressed noun:

This was his programme for a week. (J. London) -

Це була його програма на цей тиждень.

How can a man write so badly? (E. Hemingway) -

Як може ця людина (цей чоловік) писати так погано?..

5) by one of the possessive pronouns (according to their contextual meaning):

When she returned with the grammar, she drew a chair near his. (Ibid) – Коли вона (Рут) повернулася з граматикою, вона присунула свій стілець до його стільця.

6) by the negative pronoun жоден or the negative particle ані (when the determined noun is preceded by the negative particle not):

He didn’t say a word. - Він не сказав жодного/ані слова.

7) by the relative adjective цілий which is lexically equivalent to the Ukrainian identifying pronoun весь (вся, все):

His day's work was the equivalent to a week's work of the average successful writer. (Ibid) - Його доробок за день дорівнював доробкові якого-небудь модного письменника за цілий тиждень.

8) by the different relative adjectives (which are more common Ukrainian substitutes of the lexically meaningful IA) the most often used being справжній:

It is sweet to feel that you are really and truly a woman. (Ibid) - Приємно відчувати себе справжньою жінкою.

9) by the different adverbs:

He had the conviction that he could sit in a draught if he wanted to. (J. Galsworthy) - У нього було таке переконання, що він міг сидіти

навіть на протязі, якби того захотів...

There is a great difference. (О. Wilde) - Це зовсім різні речі/зовсім інша річ.

The lexical realizations of the determining and identifying functions of the D and IAs would be incomplete without the illustration of some other meanings, which they may acquire in contextual environment. The choice of the semantically fitting substitute for the D/I As then rests entirely with the translator, who is well acquainted with the text/work under translation. Since the style of the text may often influence or predetermine the choice of the necessary synonym, care should be taken in order not to neglect the possible ways of expression in Ukrainian either.

10) The broader context often predetermines the employment of lexically equivalent variants which could scarcely ever be offered for a narrow context. The kind of contextual substitutes can be seen in the examples, where Ukrainian demonstrative and other pronouns, adjectives, numerals, etc., are contextually/semantically enforced by emphatic or modal particles. Thus, the contextual meaning of the IA is expressed through an adjective enforced by an emphatic or some other particle or group of particles.

He was not to remain a sailor. (London) - Бо ж він не буде простим собі матросом..

Не seemed to think it a distinction. (Ibid.) — Він вважав це чи не за особливу відзнаку.

11) by the interrogative or indefinite pronoun enforced by some emphatic particles:

A penniless young fellow, a mere nobody, sir, a subaltern in a foot regiment. - Молодик без шеляга за душею, - власне ніщо, сер, усього лишень якийсь піхотний офіцерик...

What a lovely day! (La Mure) — Який же гарний день!

There may be some other (implicit) meanings of the D/I As. Thus, the DA may sometimes have the following additional realizations in Ukrainian: a) as a pronominal word-group of an emphatic force:

I want you to get rid of the dreadful people you 're associated with. (O. Wilde)

Я хочу, щоб ви врешті-решт перестали спілкуватися з усіма тими покидьками.

The identifying DA may include in its semantic information some specifying function and meaning too:

The Chinamen were already busy in their shops. (Ibid.) - Там уже метушились господарі китайських крамничок.

Some implicit contextual meanings of the modifying and identifying DA can often be given a true and faithful explication i.e. realization in translation only after a thorough study of the broader content as well:

The Mac-Andrews, who were childless and in easy circum­stances, arranged to undertake the care of the children, and Mrs. Strickland had only herself to provide for. (Ibid.) - Полковник Мак-Ендрю з дружиною, бездітні й добре забезпечені, взяли на утримання її дітей, так що місіс Стрікленд заробляла тільки на себе.

b) Sometimes the article may substitute an implicit identifying/ interrogative pronoun and a particle expressing the contextual meaning of the emphatically used noun with the definite article. This can be seen in the following exclamatory sentence:

The pity of it! The pity of it! - Як жаль! Який жаль! А шкода! Дуже шкода!

The picture of contextual realizations of meanings pertained to the determining and identifying As would be incomplete without some illustrations of their "deep", as one might call them, or interpharasal and superphrasal meanings, which the As may acquire in some contexts. The interphrasal meaning of the D or IA may be elicited already from its contextual meaning at the level of the sentence: I looked at her mouth for an expression that could give me a clue to what she felt. (Maugham) — Я позирав на її вуста — чи не майне там бодай тінь її душевного стану.

The meaning of the noun with the IA (an expression) is clearly perceived from the content of the sentence where it may also be substituted for якийсь вираз/хоч якийсь вираз.

More or less transient is also the meaning of the underlined noun with the DA in the following sentence:

Of the threat she said nothing. (O. Wilde) - Власне ж про саму погрозу вона промовчала/не сказала нічого.

In some cases, however, it is next to impossible to translate a noun with the implicit meaning of its identifying or specifying A without an inquiry into the broader context of the whole work:

They sent me to Amsterdam to try for a scholarship, and I won it. (Maugham.) - Мене відрядили до Амстердама на конкурс, який обіцяв стипендію в художній школі, і я здобув її.

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